Upper Nazareth Township residents oppose single trash hauler

Upper Nazareth Township residents this week continued to put pressure on municipal officials not to hire a single company to dispose of their garbage.

Homeowners claim the cost of the single hauler would be more than what they are paying now to contract their own haulers based on individual, personal needs. Senior citizens have argued they receive discounts for trash hauling.

"If the cost is more, we're not going to do it. We're not doing it
blindly," Sylvainus told the public."The idea is to save people money."

Still, a small crowd in the audience during Wednesday's board meeting wasn't convinced, telling supervisors they need to keep the status quo.

"When you go to one hauler, the cost is going to increase for everybody,
especially senior citizens because they do have programs that senior
citizens can get a discount," said Wilhelmina Donnelly, who lives on the
North Broad Extension, noting she pays $75 a quarter for her
hauler.

Donnelly suggested municipal officials enact an ordinance that would
force residents to recycle or face a fine. She pointed out if the township has a way
to regulate commercial businesses' recycling, the same should be
done for residents.

A state mandate requires township residents to recycle now that the municipality has 5,000 residents, according to the 2010 U.S. census.

Supervisor James Augustine, a proponent of the single-hauler plan, told Donnelly the issue wasn't just recycling.

"The
goal is to lower the cost for everybody, have less environmental
impact, not having the 11 trucks going through," Augustine said. "This
is what we believe."

Sylvainus said the single hauler could charge less than what Donnelly is paying without the discount. Donelly said the decision would lead to increased unemployment.

"People are going to be
losing their jobs," she said. "What are they going to do but lay people
off?"

Daniels Road resident Michael Edgar further argued his rights were being
stripped by officials. He pays $3 to dispose of a 30-gallon bag of trash
once per week and $3 per a 30-gallon bag of recyclables once every
other week, averaging $18 monthly.

"For me, a dollar or two a month
is not worth me giving up my right to choose what trash company I want. I
don't know why you guys sit there and tell me you want to take on this added
responsibility," he said. "I
really don't think you guys are going to be able to beat the cost that I
pay for my trash."

The decision to move to the single hauler came after the township sent out a survey to its estimated 2,000 households last spring and 700 responses came back. The majority of residents had listed "cost" as their main concern and "choosing own hauler" ranked as the least concern.